Prior art methods of braking the forward motion of old style roller skates use a friction pad fixed forwardly and downwardly to the front of the boot which allows the operator to slow forward motion or to stop by merely raising the heel of the boot causing the friction pad to contact the road surface.
More recently, skates referred to as in-line skates which generally can be operated with greater dexterity than the older roller type skates have rearwardly mounted friction pads which are operated by raising the toe of the boot to thereby stop the motion from the rear. The disadvantage encountered in this motion is the tendency of the operator to over-balance and fall backwards which can result in serious back and head injury.
A recent development in the braking for roller skates is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,748 where a brake wheel is provided behind the in-line roller wheels and is operated by the lifting of the boot front. This puts the extra brake wheel into contact with the road surface biasing a pivotal connection between linkage bars attached to the skate boot and roller wheel bracket where lifting action controlled by the skate operator actuates the brake on the extra wheel. Once again, the operator must lean backwards to a dangerous position in order to operate the brake of this patented construction.